Bruschetta With Red Peppers & Feta

July 14, 2008

CHEW ON THIS FOOD NEWS YOU CAN USE In this fast-paced, fast-food era, we tend to get too much of one mineral: sodium. It seems nothing is really "good" unless it's been heavily salted. Mrs. Dash has a wide variety of seasoning blends with zero sodium or MSG (monosodium glutamate). Whether it's for grilling, sautéing, baking or just spicing up an ordinary dish, these blends are so full of flavor that you won't miss the salt. Our taste-testers found the Garlic & Herb seasoning blend versatile enough to use for sautéing chicken, broiling fish, adding to a sauce for pasta or even sprinkling over steamed green beans. The 13 different "salt-free" blends cost about $3 per 2.5-ounce shaker bottle. Visit www.mrsdash.com for recipes like Bruschetta With Red Peppers & Feta or to learn more. 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, from a jar 1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning Blend 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/4 cup black olives 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled 1 whole French baguette Olive oil spray Preheat barbecue grill to medium-high. Drain and chop red peppers. Chop black olives. Mix together red peppers, Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb, lemon juice, black olives and feta cheese in a medium bowl. Slice French baguette into 1/2-inch pieces and spray pieces lightly with olive oil. Grill on barbecue until toasted on both sides. Place toasted bread on a large tray. Top each piece of bread with approximately 1 tablespoon red pepper mixture. Serves 6. Editor's note: Instead of using a grill, place the prepared bread slices under a broiler until lightly browned. Then turn the bread slices over, and return to broiler until the other side is lightly browned, then top with red pepper mixture as directed. Recall warning Escherichia coli, or E. coli, is a bacterium that can sometimes cause serious food poisoning. You should know that in case you were one of the people who purchased Kroger's cellophane-packaged ground beef. The corporation has extended its recall to include all ground beef (except the frozen patties sold in the frozen food aisle) with a sell-by date between May 21 and July 3. Customers may return the product or packaging (the cellophane with the sticker if the meat has already been discarded) to Kroger's service desk for a hassle-free, full refund. Kroger management wants its customers to be advised that they should not take any chances by cooking and consuming this meat. What would you do... For a Klondike bar? Or, if you're watching your waistline, half a Klondike bar. Klondike offers Slim a Bear, 100-calorie bars. About half the calories of a regular Klondike ice cream treat, but all the rich, creamy ice cream and chocolate coating you've come to love. An eight-bar box (with plain chocolate coating and English toffee) retails for about $4.29. Committed to fresh Chipotle recently announced another effort to offer customers "food with integrity." The more than 700 restaurants around the country have committed to purchasing 25 percent of at least one produce item from farms that are local to the restaurant. The produce includes Romaine lettuce, green bell and jalapeño peppers and red onions, when seasonally available. To learn more, visit www.chipotle.com. Good buy Are you seeing green? All this wonderful summer weather brought on a bumper crop of green beans. The Michigan-grown variety have been spotted at local markets for around $2 per pound. Mother Nature got it right. These deep green beauties are tender and really flavorful, and should be around for several weeks.If you've spotted any good buys, have a recipe to share or a response to items in this column, send them to: Karen Rallo, Chew on This, Features Department, South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; or e-mail Krallo@sbtinfo.com. Karen Rallo is a Tribune columnist